Report: Wild owner predicts Kaprizov’s deal will be ‘biggest in NHL ever’
In an interview with Joe Smith of The Athletic, Minnesota Wild owner Craig Leipold boldly predicted that the contract extension he’s hopeful to sign franchise player Kirill Kaprizov to will be the biggest contract in NHL history.
“This will be a huge deal — likely the biggest in the NHL ever,” Leipold told Smith, while also expressing optimism at the state of negotiations between the team and its star. “I just feel like we’re not that far off,” he told Smith. “I kind of think we’re there. I like to believe when Kirill comes over and gets a sense again for the excitement and the love of the city, I think we’ll be moving forward in a good direction.”
That sort of confidence should be music to Wild’s fans ears, as ensuring that Kaprizov never makes it to the open market at the end of the year should be priorities numbers one, two and three for the organization.
Kaprizov, the team’s fifth-round pick in the 2015 NHL Draft, is the sort of gamebreaking talent the franchise has not seen ever, with the respective primes of Marian Gaborik and Mikko Koivu being the closest thing the team has had to a homegrown franchise player.
The Russian winger played just 41 games in an abbreviated 2024-2025 campaign, but he finished with 56 points. In 319 career regular season games, he’s racked up 185 goals and 201 assists for a total of 386 points. He’s already fourth in franchise history in goals and fifth in points.
Kaprizov is entering the final season of a five-year, $45-million contract that carries an average annual value of $9 million. With the cap skyrocketing, he’s due an extremely considerable raise.
If Kaprizov and the Wild do come to terms on a record-setting contract, it may not hold that distinction for long. The 2026 unrestricted free agent is also set to feature Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid and Vegas Golden Knights pivot Jack Eichel.
Whether Eichel or Kaprizov will command a bigger deal is an interesting thought exercise, but there’s no question that McDavid is the odds-on favorite to set records for average or annual value and/or total contract value, depending on how long of a term he opts to sign for.
Regardless, with the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter contracts and their ensuing buyouts now in the rearview mirror, Minnesota once again has the financial flexibility to both keep Kaprizov in the fold and surround him with a contention-caliber roster.